Research

1. Dazwischen

PhD Student: Gloria Coscia

Primary Supervisor: Hubert Roland

Coming soon


2. Embodied Heterogeneous Cultural Dispositions and the Expression of Masculinities in Autobiographical Narratives by Francophone Authors of Muslim Descent

PhD Student: Serena Finotello

Primary Supervisor: Brigitte Maréchal

This thesis aims to cross-analyze a selection of autobiographical novels by Francophone postmigrant authors of Muslim descent, alongside interviews with the authors themselves, including Magyd Cherfi, Kenan Görgün, and Ismaël Saidi.

Theoretically, this project aligns with Bernard Lahire’s “dispositionalist and contextualist” framework (1998, 2013). According to this approach, social actors, shaped by various socialization contexts, internalize diverse—even contradictory—schemas of action. These schemas are then reappropriated and either activated or set aside depending on the specific situations they encounter.

We propose the study of a “plural man” (Lahire, 2016), one who has navigated multiple socializing contexts and embodies a diverse array of dispositions and condensed experiences that are not always compatible. More specifically, the research examines expressions of masculinities as a central theme in the writings of postmigrant authors, exploring how inherited models are reinterpreted and transformed through the lens of family, cultural, and religious heritage.

Methodologically, the research adopts a diachronic approach, alternating between literary analysis and interviews. By employing grounded theory analysis, integrated with structural content analysis, it aims to identify not only changes but also potential dissonances, challenges, ambiguities, and ambivalences.


3. The Construction of Identity in the Production of Postmigrant Male Rappers in Italian and English: a Study of the Metacommunication and of the Relationship with the Audience

PhD Student: Letizia Sassi

Primary Supervisor: Costantino Maeder

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the musical production of six Italian and English postmigrant rappers born after 1990. The research explores how these authors express their identities through rap-a musical genre inherently identitarian and democratically anti-hegemonic. This freedom of expression is accompanied by a relationship with the audience that differs significantly from that of authors of ‘traditional’ literary genres, both in terms of the broad number of people reached and the pact of authenticity that is established between fiction and reality. Consequently, the identity represented must be analysed by considering the dynamic interplay of author, narrating I and audience. The rappers’ texts are examined as communicative acts, drawing on the fundamental studies of Lubienetzki & Schüler-Lubienetzki (How we talk to each other. The messages we send with our words and body language. Psychology of human communication, 2022) and Schulz von Thun (Interkulturelle Kommunikation: Methoden, Modelle, Beispiele, 2009). 

The city emerges as a pivotal element in the construction of identity. In the rap genre, as well as in the broader literary tradition, the urban environment plays a central role. However, in these authors’ work the city, or even more often the neighbourhood, takes on predominantly relational rather than geographical connotations. The city, therefore, is no longer just a physical space in which the narrative takes place, but itself becomes a key actor in the construction of the subject’s identity and the development of the narrative.